Oscar Wilde once said the two biggest tragedies in are not getting what you want and getting what you want.

It appears that is the case with the Campbell County Board of Education and Dr. Michael Martin, director of schools.

Last week’s evaluation of his performance was brutal.

I am not sure why a man who improved the county’s two high schools to the point they are no longer at risk of a state take over was asked immediately if he wanted to resign. Where I come from, that is just rude.

Two weeks ago, I was going through a very stressful time in my life, and I decided to actually get up early to go walking. Grant it, I’m by no means a morning person.

I’m what I like to call a “secret morning person”.

A secret morning person is someone who isn’t an early riser and doesn’t whistle merrily as they jump out of bed before getting their day started at 7 a.m. It’s someone who may be extremely sleepy-headed, yet isn’t sleepy enough appreciate the beauty of the morning atmosphere.

Liza Minnelli once sang that „life is a cabaret old chum, life is a cabaret.” It’s true that “all the world’s a stage.” Ancient Greek philosophers agreed that politics is a theatrical performance, played out before the large audience of mankind. Modern man is Virtual Man: much of what we think is the product of what we see.

I’m a journalist so my first question is who in the heck is ‘they’ and what do ‘they’ know about it anyway? That being said, I am leaving home. But someday, I plan on coming back. My family and my friends are here. And after working as a reporter for the LaFollette Press for two-plus years, I’ve realized I will be leaving more family and friends behind than I ever knew I had.

As you go out into this great big world and begin your journey, remember that there is a few things to remember.

As you go, remember that you are no better than anyone else and no one else is any better than you are. We’re all equal and God put us on earth for the same reasons and purposes. We all have to learn from one another to make it work. Can you imagine how boring life would be if everyone was exactly the same?

No matter where you are on the planet today, chances are that your country is in the midst of a financial crisis brought on by the unethical behavior of investment banks and other financial institutions. The banking crisis was the cue ball that brought us the credit crunch which, in turn, beckoned the housing crisis and bailout of the automotive industry. In Europe, entire nations—Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Ireland—are facing bankruptcy, due largely to the shenanigans of banks.

Webster’s dictionary defines a mother as being, “A woman who has given birth to a child.”

It’s a fact that any woman can me a mother, but it takes a lot to be called a mom. What’s the difference between mother and mom?

A mother is someone whose children observe her from a distance, but a mom is someone whose children look up to her. A mother provides because they feel it’s just her duty, but a mom provides to the point she’d give her own life for the sake of her child. Well, you get the idea.

The Bible (Hebrews 13:2) says, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers. For thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

This past week, a community and church lost a very special lady. Everyone who read the obituary knew her as Lou J. Nealy. To those of us who had the pleasure of knowing this special lady, she was Mama Lou and she touched my life in a special way no one knows about until now.

Marcel Proust, the famous French writer and philosopher, penned between 1913 and 1927 one of the most famous works in the western literary tradition. Entitled In Search of Lost Time, this seven-volume novel remains today a bestseller. It is little wonder man is perpetually searching for, or trying to recapture, lost time.

Now before someone starts thinking I’ve gone ‘round the bend, let me just say I am well aware that there is an election coming up.

But I still don’t get it.

What does putting up signs from one end of the county to the other accomplish except a whole lot of post-election work for candidates who can’t remember where they put them all? Or do they really mean something?